Anyone else turn on the air conditioning to help with tank temps today? Both my tanks were running hot. If only the apex hooked into the thermostat!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

Rbredding

04-04-2011, 8:28 PM

seems like an expensive way to supplement your chiller...

blakejohn

04-04-2011, 8:55 PM

Our ac has been on, set at 70. Sump and skimmer is in the garage and tank maintained 79

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Hnguyen

04-04-2011, 9:01 PM

Good thing I got a chiller about 2 weeks ago. Tank has been at 77 all day.

angiegreenwell

04-04-2011, 9:33 PM

What percentage of people run chillers in ATL? I was hoping with LED's I would not have to purchase one. Today I came home and the tanks were at 80.

PFCDeitz

04-04-2011, 9:40 PM

My tank is run with LEDS and a few blue bulbs and it does not move from 78. No ac or anything. We dont run the AC often. Its about 400 a month to run both Acs for this house

Hnguyen

04-04-2011, 9:56 PM

I can't speak for everyone else but for me, even if I run LED's, I'd still need a chiller. My house is always at 77 to 78 degrees during the day (Seems the family likes the house HOT). I've never ran a chiller before because I wasn't willing to cough up the money, but with this new tank, I went all out on it with all highend equipment and so a chiller was called for.

Come to think of it, I do run LED's for half the day. I have 4 ecoxotic LED fixtures and they come on from 10am-1:30pm, then my MH kicks on until 7:30 then it's back to the LED's again. I can come home at 11 at night and my chiller still kicks on and off from time to time as my room temp still wants to raise my tank temp.

Skriz

04-04-2011, 11:13 PM

What percentage of people run chillers in ATL? I was hoping with LED's I would not have to purchase one. Today I came home and the tanks were at 80.

I have a chiller, but it's not one yet. A chiller is pretty much mandatory for my tank.

Do you use internal pumps or external?

One MAJOR mistake many people make when setting up their aquariums is pump selection. A popular, but poor, pump choice in this hobby is the Mag pump. I've seen some horrendous systems that used half a dozen Mag pumps! These pumps, although cheap, easy to get and easy to use are power hungry heat sources. I've used Mag pumps, but quickly learned that's not the best route to go; another rookie mistake (one of many over the years!). I had a Mag 9.5 that increased my tank temp by 10 degrees alone :eek: I'm picking on Mag pumps since they're pretty high on the suck list, but there are tons of internal pumps to stay away from (Rio being another one to never let near your tank!).

Anyway, long story short, if you're running internal pumps, you may be counteracting the heat benefits from your LED. Go external and reap the benefits. :)

Corigan

04-04-2011, 11:15 PM

I run a chiller a well. Had a fuse blow out of it last week, waiting on my replacements to show up this week. I basically have to run the tank with a chiller with all the pumps, halides, and everything else. Right now why I am waiting for the fuses to show up I have kept the canopy open, fans on, and AC down.. :D

MvM

04-04-2011, 11:18 PM

I have a chiller, but it's not one yet. A chiller is pretty much mandatory for my tank.

Do you use internal pumps or external?

One MAJOR mistake many people make when setting up their aquariums is pump selection. A popular, but poor, pump choice in this hobby is the Mag pump. I've seen some horrendous systems that used half a dozen Mag pumps! These pumps, although cheap, easy to get and easy to use are power hungry heat sources. I've used Mag pumps, but quickly learned that's not the best route to go; another rookie mistake (one of many over the years!). I had a Mag 9.5 that increased my tank temp by 10 degrees alone :eek: I'm picking on Mag pumps since they're pretty high on the suck list, but there are tons of internal pumps to stay away from (Rio being another one to never let near your tank!).

Anyway, long story short, if you're running internal pumps, you may be counteracting the heat benefits from your LED. Go external and reap the benefits. :)

HA! I agree. I run a mag 5 in my mixing tank in the garage and don't need a heater in the middle of winter. It acts as a heater!

TChristman

04-04-2011, 11:19 PM

No chiller here but the AC was on today because I was hot. My tank never gets above 82. That is still a safe range. I run a fan on the sump and two in the canopy. When the new tank gets finished I think I will only need a fan on the sump.

ichthyoid

04-05-2011, 12:17 AM

I run a chiller a well. Had a fuse blow out of it last week, waiting on my replacements to show up this week. I basically have to run the tank with a chiller with all the pumps, halides, and everything else. Right now why I am waiting for the fuses to show up I have kept the canopy open, fans on, and AC down.. :D

There are reasons that fuses blow. Usually not a random event.

If it happens again, then not due to a 'weak' fuse. Look for a more serious problem. -JMHO

Corigan

04-05-2011, 12:35 AM

There are reasons that fuses blow. Usually not a random event.

If it happens again, then not due to a 'weak' fuse. Look for a more serious problem. -JMHOYou sir are correct. I think it was my heaters that were tripping it. I had my heaters running off the chiller. Got a replacement fuse, saw the heaters kick on, and it blew the replacement. Then when I plugged the heaters into a different strip it tripped one of my halide ballasts and my powerheads went crazy. I have since ditched those heaters and bought replacements. I will know when the new set of replacement fuses shows up this week. Great advice icthyoid, spot on.

Hnguyen

04-05-2011, 7:45 AM

+1 with the Mag. drives as well. I've notice that my temp will raise when I turn off the return pump (mag.7) but still have a mag.5 running my media reactor and chiller. The temp would increase by .5 degree within less then 10 min. and my chiller would kick on and run for about 5 min. before it shuts off. But space is soo limited within my tank that I don't know of any other pumps to run. I can't run external either.

P.S. I've also notice the mag. drives would be really hot when it pull it out the water right after I shut it off. It would be warm to the touch.

BASSCYN

04-05-2011, 7:52 AM

What percentage of people run chillers in ATL? I was hoping with LED's I would not have to purchase one. Today I came home and the tanks were at 80.

Nothing wrong with 80. Stability is more the issue. If you can maintain 80...I wouldnt worry about it.
Unless of course you have livestock that requires a cooler temp.

Rbredding

04-05-2011, 8:26 AM

the tank is going to try and equalize temperature with the room around it (obvious, right?!)..

if you historically keep your house in the high 70s then it will be nearly impossible to keep your tank at 77-78 without a heater..

water will hold radiant and thermal energy longer than air will (ever go swimming at 10pm on a cool summer evening?) . So where you can cool the inside of your house in 20 mins by running your AC, your water temp wont drop anywhere near that quickly using airflow as it's main cooling method. (so we have chillers)

as Skriz said above, it's more efficient to keep those heat generating devices outside of the tank.. (yet another reason why Vortechs are popular).. anything you can do to cut down on added heat will help your system maintain a stable temperature.. (in a perfect world, you'd like to only have a heater come on at night)

ok.. now...

everyone go home and replace your mag pumps.. (I hate them too)

gnashty

04-05-2011, 8:44 AM

I have a chiller, but it's not one yet. A chiller is pretty much mandatory for my tank.

Do you use internal pumps or external?

One MAJOR mistake many people make when setting up their aquariums is pump selection. A popular, but poor, pump choice in this hobby is the Mag pump. I've seen some horrendous systems that used half a dozen Mag pumps! These pumps, although cheap, easy to get and easy to use are power hungry heat sources. I've used Mag pumps, but quickly learned that's not the best route to go; another rookie mistake (one of many over the years!). I had a Mag 9.5 that increased my tank temp by 10 degrees alone :eek: I'm picking on Mag pumps since they're pretty high on the suck list, but there are tons of internal pumps to stay away from (Rio being another one to never let near your tank!).

Anyway, long story short, if you're running internal pumps, you may be counteracting the heat benefits from your LED. Go external and reap the benefits. :)

I concurr - I run 3 Mag pumps in my sump (24, 18, 7) and run a chiller (fed by a Mag 7 lol) and have just started noticing a small spike when I put the mag 7 in. I still maintain the 80 Im looking for but I imagine the chiller comes on more then it probably should. I plan to replace my pumps one by one when I get the cash. Cant do external at this point but can make a better submersible choice in the future..

JJ Ocean

04-05-2011, 8:50 AM

I broke down and got a chiller. I have all external pumps (reeflo & vortechs), but the 1,000 watts of lighting on my system is just too much. I was using fans to keep it in check, but I would run up to 81 on a hot day and didn't care for the temp bounces. I also evaporated a lot of water with the fans.

Now, I don't leave 77 - 78 regardless of the weather/season.

BTW - I too use a mag12 to mix water and yes, it doubles as the heater.

Ralph ATL

04-05-2011, 10:43 AM

I have a chiller, but it's not one yet. A chiller is pretty much mandatory for my tank.

Do you use internal pumps or external?

One MAJOR mistake many people make when setting up their aquariums is pump selection. A popular, but poor, pump choice in this hobby is the Mag pump. I've seen some horrendous systems that used half a dozen Mag pumps! These pumps, although cheap, easy to get and easy to use are power hungry heat sources. I've used Mag pumps, but quickly learned that's not the best route to go; another rookie mistake (one of many over the years!). I had a Mag 9.5 that increased my tank temp by 10 degrees alone :eek: I'm picking on Mag pumps since they're pretty high on the suck list, but there are tons of internal pumps to stay away from (Rio being another one to never let near your tank!).

Anyway, long story short, if you're running internal pumps, you may be counteracting the heat benefits from your LED. Go external and reap the benefits. :)

while you are correct, some of us never learn, d'oh! I use a mag 7 & a fan with no chiller (no problem), however, is there an internal pump that would be more efficient and less hot?

Skriz

04-05-2011, 7:49 PM

while you are correct, some of us never learn, d'oh! I use a mag 7 & a fan with no chiller (no problem), however, is there an internal pump that would be more efficient and less hot?

Before I went completely external, I switched the Mag 9.5 to a Quiet One. It ran more efficiently and cooler. Still, if you design your system correctly, there's no reason you can't use an external pump. Time to stop being such an amatuer ;)

Hnguyen

04-05-2011, 8:45 PM

I wish I could run external but my sumo is built into my tank. That's the way I designed it and so internal is all I have to go with. I run 2 mag 7 on my 60 with a chiller and it does fine. Chiller runs a few times a day for about 20 min each.

Rbredding

04-05-2011, 9:31 PM

could you run a maxijet down to a chiller and back?

Edit: Time to stop being such an amatuer ;)
OH
NO
HE
DIDNT...

Skriz

04-05-2011, 9:41 PM

could you run a maxijet down to a chiller and back?

Edit:
OH
NO
HE
DIDNT...

Maxijet likely won't give you enough flow through the chiller.

Bring your "A" game or go home! :lol2:

Barbara

04-05-2011, 10:01 PM

Hey now.....ease up on the Mag pumps. I like 'em. Yes, they consume a lot of power, but as stated earlier, they are cheap, easy to find, and I'll add to that indestructable, simple and versitile. But I do still consider myself an amatuer compared to many on here.:) And I'm not ashamed.....

Skriz

04-05-2011, 10:11 PM

Hey now.....ease up on the Mag pumps. I like 'em. Yes, they consume a lot of power, but as stated earlier, they are cheap, easy to find, and I'll add to that indestructable, simple and versitile. But I do still consider myself an amatuer compared to many on here.:) And I'm not ashamed.....

Bah, they're not as cheap as they used to be, or even as cheap as you'd think when you consider how much it's costing you in power consumption and heating the tank!

Heck, I sold my used Mag 9.5 and was able to buy a brand new quiet one and had a few dollars to spare!

Hnguyen

04-05-2011, 10:20 PM

+1 one the maxijet feeding the chiller. I tried it it when I first got my chiller and it barely made it back up my tank. I ended up running it with a mag. 3, I had a mag. 2 to run my aquaC skimmer and a mag. 7 for my return. (I'm a mag lover too)!! I just removed the mag. 2 & 3 and replaced them with a mag. 7 with a slip in the line to go to my chiller and skimmer at the same time with a ballvalve on the intake of my chiller to decrease flow if need be. So I'm down to 2 mag drives instead of 3.

Rbredding

04-05-2011, 10:44 PM

hahaha... if you were to change out all of the mag drives.. you probably wouldnt need a chiller at all..

...I'm just sayin'...

(btw, mag pumps are more expensive than both the QuiteOne pumps and the Marineland utility pumps.. )

Hnguyen

04-05-2011, 11:02 PM

I'll have to look into the quite one. I know the mag drives run hot but their size fits inside my pump spacing perfectly. I designed the sump to accommodate the mag drives. if there's a cooler running internal pump with the same footprint as the mag 7 with the same if not more power. I may have to start changing out pumps. ( that means I'll have 4 mag drives up for sale)!!!!

Rbredding

04-06-2011, 6:33 AM

have you looked at the sicce pumps (they've made pumps for tunze for years)? marineland utility pumps?

Hnguyen

04-06-2011, 7:27 AM

have you looked at the sicce pumps (they've made pumps for tunze for years)? marineland utility pumps?

I'll look in to it today once I get a minute at work. Thanks for the heads up Ron.

MarkL

04-06-2011, 9:52 AM

Ive had my ac on off and on for the past few weeks. If my house reaches over 70 deg my ac kicks own.